Puppy Hunt 2010

So I had a regional meeting in the provincial capital of the west last weekend. Even though I’m technically in the Adamoua it’s really difficult for me to travel to our capital, so Aislynn and I have joined up with the west for regional stuff. The place we met is called Bafoussam, and it’s a very big bustling city with aggressive vendors and lots of traffic (with no traffic laws mind you) that takes me 5 hours to get to on a good day. The only two things that make traveling to Baf worthwhile is that it’s where I do my banking ($$$!) and they have a huge outdoor market where you can find just about anything. Literally I found chalkboard paint, an iron, fabric, a cake pan, a soccer jersey, and parsley all in the same place! The place is freakin enormous and it’s a maze so it’s very easy to get lost. I recommend the buddy system. The time before this Aislynn and I were shopping in it and at one point we ended up in a part of the market where you couldn’t see the sky anymore and everything was black lighted and they were selling some pretty scandalous cloths… SKETCHY ! Needless to say we hightailed it out of there.
The meeting itself was on Saturday morning and it was fun because I got to see some of my friends from stage. It was great to get together and share stories and it seems like everything is going well at post for them. Oh ya and we also did talk a little about Peace Corps stuff, since that was kind of the point. It looks like the higher ups are thinking about creating an office for us in Baf, which will be really nice for those of us who have to travel a long way to get to the capital.

I got back to Bankim on Sunday and since then I haven’t really done too much work work, but I have been keeping myself busy with a little something I like to refer to as Puppy Hunt 2010. Here’s how it started; Aislynn has been talking about wanting to get a dog for the last two months, and her counterpart was supposedly looking for one, but it’s proving very difficult to find one in Mayo Darle because in general Fulbé don’t really like dogs. So I decided to find one for her here in Bankim and give it to her as a birthday present since her birthday is this week. I had no idea when I started my search that it would end up being such an adventure. The first place I went was at the house of a friend of one of my favorite vendors, Juliette. There were indeed puppies there, and they were so cute they made me melt a little on the inside, however they were two days old, so a little too young to take home. From there I left puppy litter number one with my new friend Martin and went to checkout litter number two. When we got there, there were two dogs left at about 2 months old and they were just adorable, the only problem was they were both females and I definitely needed to find a male. Here’s my logic; one if it gets pregnant in Mayo Darle no one will want the puppies cause they don’t like dogs, and two getting a dog neutered is very invasive and dangerous and pretty uncommon so no one will do it according to my neighbor the vet. After litter number two I was walking back into town and ran into another friend who told me his older brother had some small dogs and so he took me to see them. Turned out when I got there, there was only one dog left and the owner wanted to keep it for the farm so he wasn’t selling, but the visit wasn’t a total bust, because now I can officially say I have seen a puppy and a monkey wrestle. The monkey was ahead the whole time. I think it was probably the opposable thumb and the prehensile tail that really gave him the advantage. At one point I bent down to call the puppy over and play with him and the monkey came over to. Ultimately I decided not to touch it because images of the movie Outbreak kept flashing through my mind as it got closer and closer. The family kept saying oh it’s really friendly, but I opted not to take my chances.
As of Tuesday night the search continues but I’ve got a good lead to go on after work tomorrow with puppy number 3/monkey owner. I hope I can find a dog soon, but even if I don’t Puppy Hunt 2010 has been a great way to meet new people and visit them in their homes. Who knew looking for a dog could be such a great way to integrate?

One final thing for this week; Monday Cameroon lost to Egypt in overtime so they’re out of the African Cup of Nations, but not before I got to debut my new number 9 Lion’s jersey. I put it on and my neighbors loved it. I ended up watching the game in town at this little restaurant and I think the jersey earned me some major “street cred” with the 16 to 20 something boys in town. I had to laugh because one of these guys told me he thought if I was willing to wear a Cameroon jersey and root against white people (the Egyptians) then I must really like Cameroon a lot and that made me ok. Hey whatever it takes to integrate right… ☺

Family Planning and Pygmies

Hello to All and Happy Humpday!
I hope the week is treating everyone well and that you enjoyed your day off. Obviously no one celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Cameroon, but I decided because I had nothing on the agenda that I would take a mental day to recoup from my busy weekend and chalk it up to MLK!
So this past week I experienced the nationwide frenzy that is Cameroonian football, was a guest speaker at a women’s conference and met with the Imam. The Imam (and I’m not sure if I’m spelling that right at all) is the head of the Muslim community, sort of like a Pastor or Rabi from what I gather. The one here in Bankim is really old and I don’t think he runs the day-to-day things in the actual mosque anymore, but he is a very highly respected figure within the community. From what I gather about him he used to be out and about within the district but nowadays he does a lot of teaching from his home, which is a very humble two room mud brick house he graciously invited me into for our meeting. He’s been living and working in Bankim for the past 60 years and he’s a treasure trove of information. We talked (Abdulai, the president of MBOSCUDA, translated for me) for about 45 min about this and that, my personal religion, why I was working with Muslims when I am a Christian, my life in the states, Peace corps, the health situation in Bankim, and how we can work together. Overall it went really really well and I think he’s a great person to have the support of. Very interesting man with a lot of wisdom to share!
Friday around noon Bernadette and I headed out of town to be special guest speakers at Les Femme Pour Christ annual regional meeting in Nigambe Tikar. I have to say the ride there was an adventure all in itself. The first leg of the trip is about 20 minutes by motorcycle out of Bankim until you hit water. When you get to the river you had to wait for enough people to gather and then they loaded the bikes, passengers and all the luggage on to a big canoe and paddle across. When we get to the other side we changed drivers so that we could take two bikes and be a little bit more comfortable and then head out into the bush. There are no roads between Bankim and Nigambe Tikar so the moto drivers follow the paths that the cattle herders use. There’s nothing out there except for them and their cows, and the occasional very small village where you can stop and buy gas. After about 2 hours of this we reached our final destination. The group put us up in a nice room at the home of a woman named Lucy. She was a wonderful host; a bucket of hot water to bathe with and good food to eat, it felt like the Ritz, that is minus the spider as big as the palm of my hand living in the latrine :-) The conference itself was a lot of talking and reporting on things from the previous year, mini sermons, health education by yours truly, lots of singing and of course in true Cameroonian fashion lots and lots of eating. Most interesting meal of the weekend hands down was the snake. I don’t know how big it was to begin with, but it easily fed 20 people nice size steaks, so I’m venturing to say it was a big mama. I can’t say that it’s my protein of choice (it had kind of a weird smell), but the taste wasn’t bad. It was somewhere in between fish and chicken. Saturday it was show time for Bernadette and me. We talked about an hour on family planning. Bernadette took the first half to explain different types of contraceptives and such and then I finished up with the benefits and a small demo. I was really nervous about my French, but a friend named Evangelist from Bankim translated into Tikar for me and it seemed to go pretty smoothly. The only hitch in the program was that a lot of the women were past their childbearing years and they already had big families so it was kind of moot for them. I think the solution is to highlight the role older women play in teaching their daughters and nieces and grandchildren etc… about the benefits of family planning. The other thing that kind of blew up my spot was when one women asked what my husband thought about this and then I had to tell them that in fact I wasn’t married and I have no children, (in the words of Andy I felt “like such a poser”) but I think I managed to save face a little by saying that when I do start a family I’m going to use family planning practices. In the end I think it went well and once my part of the weekend was over I got to spend some time relaxing and taking in the scenery. Bernadette grew up in Ningambe so her mother and a couple of her brothers and their families, and a ton of cousins all still live there. After our talk we spent most of the afternoon and evening on walking around meeting and greeting all of them. We even stopped to watch some of the African Cup Ghana vs. The Ivory Coast) in “the big man bar” with one of her brothers. It was really wonderful to see Bernadette in her element; she is just such a genuinely awesome person, people just flock to her no matter where we go. I’m really glad that we get to work together!
Sunday morning there was a closing ceremony that was part of the church service followed by a big lunch to conclude the weekend. Sunday also happened to be the big market day in Ningambe so of course we couldn’t leave town without making the rounds down there. I am really glad that I went though because I met some Pygmies and they said next time I visit I should come see where they live. Totally going to take them up on that offer. Definitely a “my life could not get any cooler” moment! After a round of goodbyes that took about 45 minutes to complete we headed out of town. We couldn’t find two separate motos this time so we had to share. It was me, Bernadette, the driver and our stuff which included 2 duffle bags and a chicken all on one bike. It wasn’t the most comfortable ride of my life, but I certainly wasn’t the only unhappy camper aboard. The chicken was not particularly grateful for the joy ride either and when we stopped once it tried to make a run for, It didn’t get far because it’s legs were tied together, it kind of just hopped around clucking pathetically for a few minutes until the driver could chase it down. It was a pretty funny scene to watch.
Finally, this week was the start of the African Cup of Nations and the entire country has been overcome by football frenzy. It’s what everyone is talking about all over the village and each night they project the game on the side of a big building in the middle of town. So far Cameroon is one and one. They lost to Gabon and won against Zambia< There’s a lot of hype for them to live up to because they qualified for the World cup and they’ve won the African cup 4 times in the past. I’ve been watching with my neighbors, but I think the next match I’m going to venture into town with a friend who promises to keep the drunks from bothering me. We’ll see how it goes… the crowd gets a little rough in Bankim once the sun goes down Wish me luck!

Until Next Time,
Kate

P.S. GO LIONS !!!

Never Take The Fish

Well after a 3 month hiatus and much anticipation I finally got my mail this week, and I definitely hit the jackpot! I want to say a big thanks to those of you who wrote letters and sent care packages. They were a wonderful surprise, and the delivery absolutely made my week. I let Haua try some of the junk food like the Pringles and M&Ms, but she wasn’t impressed. (Side note: I’m finding that when people in Bankim don’t like something they come right out and tell you. Brings the saying “cut the crap” a whole new meaning. It’s certainly abrupt but I find it somewhat refreshing)

Work related this week I had a couple of meetings and I went into the health center on Wednesday and Friday for vaccination days. Not a particularly busy week, but enough that I had at least one thing to do a day. Friday was a hard day. I met a women who came in for a pre-natal visit complaining of major stomach pains and when the nurses checked her out they couldn’t find the baby’s heart beat. My heart broke for her. They ended up admitting her to do an induced delivery and there were no complications, but when I saw her and her husband heading out of town on Sunday morning she didn’t look good. I don’t know her name or even where she’s from, but I’ve been thinking about her all week and I hope she’s doing ok.

On a much much lighter note I did have a pretty hilarious encounter Saturday morning with three dancing men and a fish. I had just walked out my front gate to head into town when these three men came running at me. At first I was a bit freaked out, then I was confused, then I saw a group of people laughing behind them so I figured they were harmless and quickly came back into the yard and shut the gate on them. The three of them were decked out in traditional garb with headdresses and beads and these shell legwarmer looking things that made noise when ever they moved, and they were dancing and singing. One guy had a small fish in his hand and he kept waving it front of me saying “take the fish, take the fish.” Well I was stuck (literally they were blocking the door) and I didn’t have any other options so I just took the fish hoping that would make them leave, but my taking the fish sort of had the opposite effect. Instead of leaving they told me I now had to give the fish back with a little extra ($$$). I realized then that these guys had totally bamboozled me. There was no way I was giving them money after tricking me so I decided to wait them out. Unfortunately for me they made a similar decision and plopped down in front of my gate and started singing again, but this time louder. In the mean time all my neighbors had come out and there was a crowd of onlookers forming. Rose (the Anglophone two doors down) came over and explain that a notable from the village had died and these men were collecting money to present to the chief in his honor, and also that they wouldn’t leave until I gave them something and that they would stay there all day if they had too. Finally about 15 mins after the whole thing started my level of embarrassment overcame my desire the win and I conceded defeat and gave them back their fish with 100 CFA. Lesson learned… never take the fish!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope that everyone back at home had a great time welcoming in 2010. I spent the holiday visiting Aislynn in Mayo Darlé and I had a great time. It definitely wasn’t a conventional new years eve bash but it was fun. I mostly say that because there’s only power in The Darlé from 6 to 10pm each night and while we contemplated staying up till midnight to do a count down, ultimately we decided against sitting in the dark for two hours and went to bed. The next day was a lot like my Christmas experience; lots of eating and visiting with people. There was only one major exception to this and it was that there was no drinking. There’s apparently only 1 bar in Mayo Darlé and not a lot boozing, mostly because it’s a heavily Muslim community and none of them drink alcohol. Needless to say Bankim’s rowdiness factor is unmatched by Mayo Darlé (a thing good and bad thing I would say).

As far as work goes, this week was pretty slow. I had one meeting and I also attempted my first very small intervention at the health center. Neither one went exactly as planned but both left me feeling like I did at least a little something. The mini project at the health center came about because I had been noticing that not a lot of the babies coming in are actually getting the Measles and yellow fever vaccinations because of a blip in the system. Here’s how it unfolds, kids come in at 9 months for the last two vaccines (measles and yellow fever) but in order to open the vials you’re required to have at least 10 of them there, so you don’t waste the vaccine. What normally ends of happening is that there are almost always less then 10 and no one tells the mothers that they’re not giving the vacs until the very end of the day. So then you have a handful of mothers that just wasted 4 hours of their day waiting for nothing, and now their being told to come back next week. You can see why mothers aren’t very likely to return the next week and risk the chance of a repeat. If they don’t come back then the problem just keeps repeating week after week and no one ever gets the shots. I had been talking about maybe consolidating all the 9 month olds by only giving those two specific vaccinations once a month, which would hopefully increase the likelihood that there would be enough babies to open the vials. The nurses I talked to seemed pretty receptive, so I set up a meeting with the chief nurse to see if we could implement it. We decided to consolidate the particular vacs to two Wednesdays a month, which wasn’t what I was hoping for but it was better then nothing. I’m hoping this will help at least a little bit.

The other work related thing I had this week was a meeting with a women’s MBOSCUDA group that is the sister organization to the mens group I’ve been meeting with. When I got to the meeting place I met the president and said hello and she said hello back but that was about as far as the conversation went because she doesn’t speak French and I don’t speak Fulfulde; our encounter should have been a warning about what was to come. While I did have a translator I couldn’t get her to speak above a whisper and she had her hand in front of her mouth when she talked to me which is a sign of respect which I appreciated, but subsequently made it very difficult for me to understand her ( I couldn’t be mad because she is sweet girl who is doing me a huge favor by translating and I know it’s a part of her culture). On top of the language barrier I was trying to explain the Peace Corps approach to development, which is some pretty heavy development theory, but I feel really important to go over at the beginning. I had worked to simplify it a lot and it seemed to go over ok with the men, but the women were giving me blank stares.

A very odd feeling came over me about an hour in to the meeting. I was frustrated but not mad, and I can’t say I’ve ever experienced one without the other before. The meeting was hard and I wouldn’t call it a success but I was happy and not too discouraged when I got the end. I think it was mostly because the women who came are so excited to be there and they seem like genuinely motivated people. Even though I don’t think they really got anything I was saying and even though I couldn’t answer most of their questions because I couldn’t hear/understand what my translator was saying I still felt pretty good when I left. I know that next week will be better (even if only a little) and I know that this group of women see their potential and are very determined to succeed, which gives me a lot of motivation. Someone said the following to me when I first got in country and it fits perfectly for how I’m feeling right now

“They say in Cameroon nothing works right, but everything works out alright.”

The rest of the week was pretty much just a bunch of down time and I spent most of it hanging out with the neighbors. I think I’ve finally got them all figured out: There are 4 families that are my immediate neighbors. Two are in my actual walled in compound; a husband and wife with a 1 year old and then a single mother with a little girl and boy who are both at the primary school. Then outside my wall there are two more families. One has a father (the school inspector), 2 wives, and 12 kids ranging in ages from high school to infant. The other family is a father with 3 wives and a total of 16 kids with the same range. The father of this family runs a training mosque where people send their boys to learn about the Koran and how to call prayer. Needless to say there are kids all over the place all the time. Surprisingly though they’re growing on me and I actually think I might like kids… I know it’s shocking. (Side note: the baby staring thing is kind of a moot point now, because being that I’m the only white person in the district it kind of means that everyone stares, so I’ve gotten over that one) I’ve taught the kids some games and they really seem to like “duck duck goose” (except that I changed it to “goat goat sheep” because it’s easier to say in French) and red light green light. Originally “duck duck goose” was a bit problematic because they kept picking me as the goose and I was getting tired of running around, but after a couple go arounds they got it and I got a break from being chased in a circle.

So that’s about all that’s new with me here. Hope all is well in the states!

Peace,

Kate

p.s. I think I’ve got a lead on a P.O. Box for letters and padded envelopes that’s closer to me but I’m still working out the kinks so keep your fingers crossed!

A Cameroonian Christmas, A Much Needed Confidence Boost, & The Kate SongA Cameroonian Christmas, A Much Needed Confidence Boost, & The Kate Song

Hello Everyone!

Season’s Greetings From Cameroon, or as they say here, joyeux noel, and happy ex-mas (yes we really do say x-mas here and we really do spell it with “ex”, I’m beginning to think that Cameroonian English spelling might actually be worst then mine. Those of you who know me well know that’s saying something!). I had a very busy week and I would love to tell you about all of it, but that would take forever so I’ve picked out three major highlights and were gonna go with that for this week.

A CAMEROONIAN CHRISTMAS

The first one is obvious, last week we celebrated Christmas. Aislynn, the closest volunteer to me (about 2 hours away) came to visit for a few days and we both had a great time. She got here on Christmas eve and we spent most of the day at the market visiting people and using the internet. When we got home we walked across the street to visit the nuns and find a Christmas tree at the catholic mission. The story of the Christmas tree is actually kind of a funny one. Last week I was over there and I commented on how nice looking the sisters’ tree was. It was a fake tree with lights, and tinsel, and ordainments. It was a little Griswold”esqu” but I know they worked hard on it and they were very proud of it because as a general rule of thumb Christmas trees are hard to come by in Cameroon. When they asked me what mine looked like I laughed and told them I didn’t have one, but I did tell them that I had a green wall I’m my house and that I had drawn a tree on it in chalk. They looked at me like that was the strangest thing they had ever heard and told me, “That was no good” and then asked if I wanted to go cut down a pine tree branch from the property back behind the mission. Of course I said yes, but asked if I could wait till my friend came to town, because I knew she would want to help. After dropping off the goodies we had bought in town we walked over there at about 5:00 pm to begin the search.

The sister’s were excited to see us and quickly rounded up two little boys to help us out. So there we were, 2 Peace Corps volunteers, two Cameroonian kids (one of which was wearing a screen print t-shirt with Leonardo Decaprio’s face on it) armed with a butcher knife and my little Leatherman’s tool and we were off to find the prefect Christmas tree. We walked all over the grounds for about a half and hour till finally we found it, the prefect branch. One of the kids rigged up this forked stick to pull the branch down and then I hacked away at it with the butcher knife till it came free. It was a pretty funny scene to behold. The two kids were hanging on the branch to bend it down, I was chopping, and Aislynn had the camera to document the whole thing. All four of us were cracking up the entire time.

With our prize held proudly in our hands we headed back to the house to put the tree in some water. We had to cut it back a little to fit it in the Tangui bottle we were using as a makeshift tree stand, so we used the extra to make a wreath. It was getting pretty late by this point and time was of the essence so we quickly changed into nice clothes and caught a moto out to the protestant church for their Christmas eve service. I had been invited to both services (24^th and 25^th) but made the executive decision to just pick one. The service turned out to be really long so we ended up skipping out after an interesting rendition of silent night.

The next day for the first time in 22 years I woke up on Christmas morning without Andy and Sean jumping on me to get up. Without Christmas quiche, no stockings, no Christmas bow on the dog, no feeling jipped because I got the practical gift and not the trendy fun gift the Sean and Andy inevitably get each year. It was strange, but not in a bad way, just in a dang I’m a grown up now and I’m living on my own in Africa kind of way.

In the spirit of giving I decided to give myself some extra sleep and didn’t get up till 8. Crazy I know! I tried to sneak out of the house to get Aislynn’s present from next door, but she woke up as I was walking back in with it. So much for the element of surprise. We had decided a couple of weeks ago to exchange small gifts so I gave her a bracelet I found in the market and a bouquet of wild flowers that were in a vase I decorated with fabric scraps. She made me a chocolate cake (AMAZING!!!) some apricot thumb cookies, and butterscotch brownies. It was amazing; best Peace Corps Christmas present ever! Her birthday is next month and now she’s set the present bar pretty high. I’ll have to think about what can beat a chocolate cake, no food though, my culinary skills are pitiful compared to hers (actually they’re pitiful compared to everyone’s).

We ended up spending the morning decorating the tree and just relaxing (it’s the most Charlie Brown looking tree you’ve ever seen, but I love it), and then in the afternoon we headed out to visit with people and checkout the scene in town. The first stop was with one of my neighbors named Etienne. He had asked me a while back to stop by for a visit, but when we got there I quickly realized that come over for a visit actually meant come over for lunch, we’ll be waiting for you. I was already full from the late breakfast we just finished, but in Cameroon it’s considered very rude to refuse food. So I did my duty and ate something. I say something, because I’m actually not quite sure what it was, but it was definitely some kind of meat and meat’s expensive to I knew it was a big deal. After lunch we hung around for a little while, till it became clear the palm wine was working its magic and we decided to move on.

Next stop was chez Teresa. She had invited us to stop by the day before, but in usual Cameroonian fashion she wasn’t there when we got there. We asked around as to her whereabouts and ended up running into one of her kids who walked us to their house. When we got there the party was in full swing. Teresa was so excited to see us that immediately she invited us in, gave drinks, and fed us yet again. After my third lunch I was pretty sure I was going to explode if made to eat anything else. The two of us hung out with Teresa for about and hour and then we all decided to head to the market together. Walking through the neighborhood was fun because all the children were running around in their new outfits and the parents were visiting neighbors, and enjoying the holiday. It kind of reminded me of a giant block party. When we finally got to town it was a mad house. People were in the streets everywhere laughing, drinking, and eating. It was like a giant street festival. While Aislynn and I were walking around taking it all in we ran into this guy who was taking peoples pictures in front of his Christmas tree. The tree was decorated in pink toilet paper and we both looked at each other and decided this was way too good to pass up so we stopped for the best Christmas card photo opt in the history of Christmas cards.

We made one last visit with the nuns across the street and guess what, they insisted that I stay and eat something. Thankfully for my digestive tract it was only cookies and juice and not another full meal. I think I would have cried if I had to eat lunch for the 4^th time in one day. After a little small talk we came home and retired for the day to watch Christmas movies and let the food coma set in. I have to say for my first Christmas away from home it was a pretty great one!

A PEACE CORPS CONFIDENCE BOOST

Sunday I had a meeting with a men’s community group that I’ve been visiting with since I got to town. This Sunday was a big deal because it was the first time I actually did any real work with them (I had been observing up to this point). I decided to do some basic background on myself and the Peace Corps approach to development and so on, but I was really nervous because it was the first time I ‘d run a part of the meeting, and I was attempting to do it in French. Long story short I didn’t finish with everything because they started to call prayer in the middle of my talk, but what I did get through went over really well and the men seemed to be fairly receptive. I knew it hadn’t been a total bust because at the end I asked for questions and instead of the usual blank stares I get at this point two people actually asked me questions, which I was actually able to answer!

THE KATE SONG

This is just a funny story that makes me feel like I’m doing a good job integrating into life in Bankim. So Monday afternoon I was in town and I walked by a small shop with two big speakers out in front of it. I wasn’t really paying much attention to it, I just figured the music that was playing was a CD or something. But then I heard my name in the song, and then I heard them say the local word for white man (Nassara). This is pretty much how the song went…

“Kate, Kate, Kate,

Nassara, Nassara, Nassara,

Bevenieu du Bankim.

(repeat. for the whole song)”

I quickly realized that in the shop there were two guys with microphones doing a karaoke type activity, so I popped my head in, told them I was a huge fan of the song and then went on my way.

The next day I was eating lunch in town when I hear the song playing again at about 100 decibels in the bar next door. Turns out they were recording it the day before in the little shop and now there’s a tape being circulated around Bankim with the Kate song on it. Never have I laughed so hard in my life!